


[start by wiping the blood off of his chin and pretending to understand]

by cm (mumblemutter)



Series: Tumblr Things [10]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood, Incest, M/M, Vampires, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 04:50:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2952989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mumblemutter/pseuds/cm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>(Reposted from <a href="http://lokiagentofhotness.tumblr.com/post/106612250177/">Tumblr</a>.) </p>
<p>Written for <a href="http://mangaka-soldier.tumblr.com/">mangaka-soldier</a> in the <a href="http://thorlokiweek.tumblr.com/post/103831023262/">Thor/Loki Secret Santa</a> gift exchange.</p>
    </blockquote>





	[start by wiping the blood off of his chin and pretending to understand]

**Author's Note:**

> (Reposted from [Tumblr](http://lokiagentofhotness.tumblr.com/post/106612250177/).) 
> 
> Written for [mangaka-soldier](http://mangaka-soldier.tumblr.com/) in the [Thor/Loki Secret Santa](http://thorlokiweek.tumblr.com/post/103831023262/) gift exchange.

It's a Tuesday night, and Loki walks in. Scent of blood on his breath: copper, wolf, sharp sharp teeth. He bares them, those teeth of his, and oh how did Thor not know - how did he ever imagine Loki was anything but what he is. Dark, feral, full to the brim with rage.

The monster they tell their children about. 

Only a different kind of monster, surely. 

"Listen," Thor says. "We can talk - can't we? Loki. Let's just talk about this."

Loki tilts his head, and for a moment there he is, Thor's brother. Thor's blood. A sly smile on his lips and a tongue always ready to spin some ridiculous tale that Thor will believe, because he is Thor and Loki is Loki, and this is how it is.

This is who they are. 

The illusion breaks, and Loki says, "There is nothing to talk about, brother."

He steps forward, and Thor closes his eyes.

 

*

 

They are children still, but barely, and they sneak away often to the woods, to lie under the night sky - trees rising high above them and wild animals lurking around them. Thor can hear every heartbeat of every creature that ventures close, but mostly he hears Loki's, a steady, slow beat that's not at all like Thor's rabbit heart. "What are you thinking of," he asks Loki.

"I'm thinking if I ripped your throat out, how dark the blood would be. And how sweet your flesh would taste, your bones."

Thor starts to laugh. "Why my flesh and bone? Only the blood is worth anything - the rest of it is just waste."

Loki doesn't respond, and when Thor turns his head Loki's just staring at him, wide-eyed. He puts his hand on Loki's cheek and it feels warm. "I dream of it, sometimes. I -" He doesn't finish, just blinks lazily at Thor and then smiles.

-

Thor loved him too much, even then.

-

Loki likes vampire movies. Near Dark, Nosferatu, The Lost Boys, John Carpenter's Vampires. He doesn't care - makes Thor sit with him and puts his feet in Thor's lap. "So you see," he says, throwing popcorn at Thor's head to make sure Thor's paying attention. "The vampire as myth is humanity's fear of mortality, and their obsession with what gives them life, which is blood. Your heart pumps blood through your veins, and when it stops you die, the end." 

"What are you going on about? You should go to college, that brain of yours. Teach vampire history, or something like that. See, there's a movie plot right there. The vampire studies professor who's a vampire."

"You're an idiot," Loki says, but he's smiling. Loki's always been smarter than him, but not in the way that counts. Thor's bullheaded; Loki does everything with careful intent. Frigga likes to say they'll both head the clans wisely together. But only one of them can rise to the throne, and Thor's been chosen. Thor knows Loki will probably lead them better, but Loki never brings it up, so Thor just keeps quiet. 

He wraps his fingers around Loki's ankle, tugs. Loki kicks out at him, and laughs as he catches Thor in the chin.

-

Loki's wasted. He's gotten into the wine cellar, pulled out centuries old bottles of whiskey and made quick work of it. Thor ducks a flying bottle as he enters his room, manages to make it to Loki without having his head bashed in. 

"Hey, come on," Thor says, and wrestles Loki down onto the bed. Loki's hard against his thigh, ruts up against him.

"You come on." His cheeks are pink, his skin hot. "Don't be a fucking tease, Thor."

"Stop it." He holds Loki until he falls asleep, his breath warm against Thor's neck. 

Everything about Loki has always been wrong, but he's Thor's brother. That's all that matters, in the end. 

Near dawn, Loki wakes up and shoves his hand down Thor's jeans. "Stop it."

Loki just kisses him as a response, draws blood. 

Thor knows they should talk instead, that this isn't helping. But there's nothing he could say that would make Loki listen anyway, so he just arches up into Loki's hand, says, "Yeah, okay. Fuck. Loki."

-

They go to see a witch. Real magic in a shitty carnival, and they spend far too much time wandering around first. Popcorn and cotton candy. Loki feeds him something gross and sweet, long fingers carelessly sticky. Thor pushes him behind a caravan, their legs tangling into each other. 

"She's waiting for us," Loki says.

"Yeah, let's not," Thor says, dread settling into his stomach like a stone. "Let's just ride the Ferris wheel and go home. I'll win you a teddy bear, we know you like those." 

"Come on, don't be a pussy. What's the worst that could happen? She tells you you're destined for greatness, I'm destined for the gutter."

"Don't say that."

"Why? You always bug me about lying, and now you don't want to hear the truth?" Loki pushes at him, palms flat against his chest. Thor staggers back, reflex more than anything.

He follows as Loki stalks away. He always follows.

"Baby strigoi," the woman says, with some disgust.

Thor glances around the dimly lit tent, heavy scent of incense in the air, and snorts. "Nice place. You witches really got it made, don't you?"

"Rude," she says. "Get out." 

"Don't mind my brother," Loki says. "He was raised by wolves."

There's a knowing smile on her face when she says, "Not quite. All right. It's five hundred for a reading."

"That's outrageous." Thor's about to storm off, but Loki grabs the back of his hoodie, gently tugs on him until he gives in and sits down.

"He means that's fine," Loki says.

Thor shakes his head. There's nothing she could say that he would want to hear.

It's all bullshit anyway. 

The witch turns over cards, chain smokes while she reads them. There's a frown on her face that grows, and after a while she starts to shake.

"What," Thor says. The weight in his stomach returns. 

"There's a storm coming," she says. "You better run, child."

Outside, Thor can see Loki's breath in the cold air as he rants. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Five hundred bucks for that? We should go back in, drink her dry. That's worth five hundred, I'll bet."

"You know we can't," Thor says. You don't mess with the witches. Besides, he'd seen her face. She was terrified. Be long gone by now. 

Thor grabs Loki by the shoulders, holds his trembling frame until he stops struggling, until he gives up and falls into Thor's arms, still shaking.

-

_Everything you are is a lie, boy. Wake up._

-

Thor gets a call in the middle of the night. Loki's voice, panicked and high: come now, come fast.

The room is filled with the stench of blood, Loki stark naked in the middle of it. Bodies not drained but ripped apart, as if a wild animal had gotten to them.

"What did you do?"

Loki snarls at him, row full of sharp sharp teeth. Not vampire teeth, not delicate fangs meant for sliding into vein. Creatures of the night, wild and free. 

"Loki," Thor says, and he should be afraid, but he isn't. 

Loki drops to his knees, throws his head back. And howls.

-

"Why didn't you tell us," Thor asks Odin, when it's too late. 

"I made a promise not to." Odin is tired. Thor could kill him.

A treaty, the end of a long, protracted war and a child given in exchange for peace. "What are we? Just pawns in this game of yours?"

"Would you prefer our people continued to bleed and die? One of theirs in exchange for one of ours. That was the deal we struck."

"Who?"

Odin waves his hand around: it doesn't matter. "Find your brother, before he destroys everything we've worked so hard to build."

-

There's a young girl in a club for vampire groupies. She's too thin, too pale. Everything about her is wrong, including her desperation. Thor kisses the inside of her wrist, feels her pulse beat, delicate and erratic.

He pulls her into the alley and hikes her skirt up, fucks into her as she wraps her legs around his waist, bares her neck for him. Thor's about to sink his fangs into her when Loki barrels into him, pushes him away. "Fuck off," he tells the girl. 

She starts, but there's something ugly about her face as she runs off, heels clacking down the alley. 

"I was in the middle of something," Thor says, mild. He clamps down on the rage, but it's close.

"Are you fucking stupid," Loki shoves at him, and it's all Thor needs. He shoves back, and then they're fighting, fists and teeth and Loki's gasp as the back of his head hits brick.

Thor's sorry almost immediately, stands with his hands open against his side. 

Loki takes a breath, says, "Do you know what she was?"

"Just a girl."

Werewolf, Loki tells him, and there's something in his face as he says this. Something naked and vulnerable, almost desperate. "Couldn't you smell her? Are you crazy? You drink from her you fucking die, is that what you want? Stupid -" his fist swings out, unexpected. 

Thor goes down. Flat on his back, he stares up at the sky and thinks: she smelled like Loki.

-

The first time Loki kisses him it's because they're fighting. Over some nonsense or another. Brothers fight, it's what they do. But then Loki's kiss, hard and so very hot - it's half spite, half rage and Thor shoves him away, wipes at the blood on his lip. "What is wrong with you?"

"Oh, you want a list? Where do I fucking start." He's so brittle, his brother. Thor could break him just by touching him. What's it like to be the second son, the one that won't inherit this worthless throne: Thor doesn't know, but he wants to understand at least.

"You could have it, you know. I don't fucking want it." The clans, the responsibility. Deciding who lives or dies. Fuck being royalty. Fuck it all.

"That's not the point," Loki says. "I don't want your rejected throne. Don't you get that? I want what I deserve, not what you deign to give."

"Then I can't help you."

Loki wipes blood off his own lip. Thor's blood. "Yeah, that's the point. You never could."

-

Balder. His name is Balder. Thor hears about it: Loki kills him like you would a vampire, not a wolf. Stake to the heart, and there goes the heir to the throne. There goes any hope of future peace. 

A child for a child. 

Thor's actual brother. His blood. But it's Loki he mourns for, not this prince he's never met. It's Loki he shakes over, begs Odin for mercy about. 

"Oh, the time for mercy is long gone, son. Long gone. Find your brother. Bring him home."

Thor knows what that means, but he nods anyway.

 

*

 

She grabbed Thor by the hand as they staggered out into the night, this old witch with dark, dead eyes. "Kill him," she said. "It's mercy. For all of you."

Never. Not then, and not now.

Loki steps forward, and there is a bloody stake in his hand, tipped in silver. 

Thor closes his eyes.


End file.
